Pages: 223-283

Processing of mammoth ivory is recognized widely as one of the most important characteristics of the material culture of the ancient man. In fact, the production of ivory tools is the most important innovation of the Upper Palaeolithic. The Yana site materials provide exceptionally rich and complete data set for understanding of the ivory technologies. Technological operations have been tightly connected with the size and shape of the desirable product, but also were determined by the raw material properties. Several technological cycles are recognized, including production of long ivory shafts by exfoliation with the use of wedging. Similar technologies were widely spread across Upper Palaeolithic of Northern Eurasia.

Keywords: Arctic, Siberia, Pleistocene, Palaeolithic, hunting, mammoth, ivory technologies.

Information about author:

Vladimir Pitulko (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]

Elena Pavlova (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Arctic and Antarctic Scientific Research Institute. Bering St., 38, Saint Petersburg, 199397, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]

Pavel Nikolskiy (Moscow, Russian Federation). Candidate of Geology and Mineralogy. Geology Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Pyzhevsky Lane, 7, Moscow, 119017, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]